30th May 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Irish medical campus in Bahrain challenged
A group of Irish lawyers has called for a medical school in Bahrain to have its accreditation denied because of what it calls "ongoing human rights abuses" in facilities the school shares with the Bahrain healthcare system. Ceartas/Irish Lawyers for Human Rights argues in a detailed report that the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) campus in the Bahraini capital of Manama falls within Irish jurisdiction as it is wholly owned by its parent organisation RCSI in Dublin. RCSI invested nearly 100m euros (86m) in building the campus in 2009 at the Medical University of Bahrain, on land donated by the Bahraini government. Read More

IMC urged to reject Bahrain

Irish Lawyers for Human Rights is requesting the Irish Medical Council (IMC) not to accredit the RCSIs Medical University of Bahrain (RCSI-Bahrain) on the basis of ongoing human rights violations and breaches of medical ethics in the medical facilities used to teach students. A major new report from Ceartas the independent, non-prot

organisation that seeks to promote human rights through legal actions has suggested that the act of accreditation could facilitate violations of individual rights within the Bahraini health system and support alleged acts of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that continue to be reported at the Bahraini hospitals afliated with the College acts that should be investigated as part of any impending accreditation visit by the IMC. Read More predominantly Sunni ruling elites, and the majority Shiite population, many of whom say they face systemic discrimination in employment, housing, education and government. Demonstrations that erupted in Bahrain during the Arab Spring two years ago, however, represented a newly invigorated movement, albeit one that was met with intense and widespread repression from King Hamad bin Isa alKhalifa. Read More

Chief of Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland defends Bahrain campus

The chief executive of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has told his staff that the college rejects accusations that its Bahrain campus is not t for accreditation by the Irish Medical Council due to abuses that have taken place in Bahraini hospitals where RCSI students receive training.

Prof Cathal Kelly made the remarks in an email sent to RCSI staff yesterday following the publication of a report by Ceartas (Irish Lawyers for Human Rights) documenting what it said were systematic violations of international human rights law and medical ethics at medical facilities where RCSI students are trained. Ceartas argues that the RCSI-Bahrain fails to meet standards for accreditation by the Irish Medical Council. Read More say it's just another example of how sensitive the ruling family can be to critics. That's something Ali Abdulemam knows all too well. He founded one of Bahrain's most popular blogs, and has been in and out of jail there several times, including once, he says, on a charge of insulting his majesty the king. Read More

John Timoney and the Kingdom of Bahrain: Whitewashing Human Rights Abuses and Suppressing a Popular Revolution
For decades, the people of Bahrain have been protesting the more than 200-year-old monarchy, which has ruled the small Persian Gulf Island of one million people since 1783.Tensions have long existed between the

Bahrain Blogger Comes Out Of Hiding

The power of social media also became clear during the Arab Spring. It's still seen in the way news about Bahrain has spread ever since prodemocracy protests started in the island kingdom more than two years ago. Earlier this month, a court sentenced six people to a year in jail for insulting King Hamad Al Khalifa on Twitter. Activists

22 May 2013

JOINT APPEAL TO THE UN AGAINST ILL-TREATMENT AND TORTURE OF DETAINED HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS, ACTIVISTS AND PHOTOJOURNALIST IN BAHRAIN
The following is a joint appeal to three UN Special Rapporteurs calling for an investigation to torture in Bahraini prisons. The appeal, signed by over 50 NGOs, was initiated by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights :

Dear Special Rapporteurs Mendez, Sekaggya and La Rue, We the undersigned NGOs worldwide are writing to express serious concern over the treatment of Bahrain human rights defenders whom we believe to be detained in violation of their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. We have received alarming reports of torture and ill-treatment in prison, which contravene Bahrains obligations under international law, as well as its promises to stop the practise of torture in detention. Read More Wednesday night, wounding one policeman seriously and two others moderately, said Northern Province police chief Ibrahim al-Sheeb. Sheeb, who was cited by BNA state news agency, said an investigation had been launched into the attack which he blamed on "terrorists". Read More

Bahrain terrorist explosion injures 7 policemen; 3 suspects arrested

Bahraini police said they arrested three suspects Thursday over a bombing the previous night that wounded seven policemen and that was described as a terrorist attack in the violence-wracked Gulf kingdom.

Police have been targeted before during the more than two-year unrest on the strategic island nation, which is home to the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet. But the blast late Wednesday, using what was called a homemade device, was among the most police casualties in a single attack. The attack occurred in Bani Jamra, the site of frequent clashes about 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the capita, Manama. Read More night in the town of Bani Jamri, was a "terrorist act", it said.

Bahrain police hurt in explosion near Manama

Seven police ofcers were injured when a homemade device exploded in a town near the capital Manama, Bahrain's Ministry of Interior says. The explosion, which happened Wednesday

It said that one of the police ofcers was in a critical condition. More than 60 people, including 6 police ofcers have died since prodemocracy protests broke out in the Gulf island kingdom in February 2011. Read More others moderately by the blast in Bani Jamra village on Wednesday night, said Northern Province police chief Ibrahim al-Sheeb. Sheeb, quoted by BNA state news agency, said an investigation had been launched into the attack, which he blamed on "terrorists." Read More

'Terrorist' bomb wounds Bahrain policemen: Police

A homemade bomb planted by "terrorists" exploded in a Shiite village outside the Bahraini capital, wounding seven policemen on patrol, police said on Thursday. The blast went off in Bani Jamra village on

Bahrain bomb attack injures seven policemen

Bahrain police early on Thursday arrested 10 suspects after a bomb attack that injured seven policemen on patrol a few hours earlier. Two arrest announcements, one related to seven suspects and the other to three, were posted an hour

apart on the ministrys Twitter account. The police added that the search operation and investigation they launched after the attack was continuing. Earlier, the general director of the Northern Governorate Police said an explosion in Bani Jamra, a village west of the capital Manama, targeted on-duty policemen. Read More

Explosion in Bahrain injures seven policemen

A homemade bomb has exploded in a village outside the Bahraini capital, wounding seven policemen on patrol, police said on Thursday. Among them, one was seriously hurt and two

Bahrain: attack against police, seven wounded

Seven policemen were wounded in an attack last night in Bani Jambra, a suburb of Bahrain's capital, for which 10 people have been arrested, the Interior ministry was quoted as saying by Gulf News. The ofcers were removing debris in the street from recent clashes between the Shiite community and security forces after a handmade bomb,

apparently detonated by remote control, exploded, seriously wounding one policemen. Another three ofcers are in serious condition. Bahrain is headed by a Sunni royal family ruling over a Shiite-majority population. It has recently been at the centre of clashes, especially in villages around Manama. The highest peak in protests was registered in 2011 when authorities repressed with violence an uprising by the Shiite population. Read More

7 policemen injured in Bahrain blast

Bahrain police early on Thursday arrested 10 suspects after a bomb attack that injured seven policemen on patrol a few hours earlier. Two arrest announcements, one related to seven suspects and the other to three, were posted an hour

apart on the ministrys Twitter account. The police added that the search operation and investigation they launched after the attack was continuing. Earlier, the general director of the Northern Governorate Police said an explosion in Bani Jamra, a village west of the capital Manama, targeted on-duty policemen. Read More injuries. The blast was reportedly caused by a homemade bomb that targeted on-duty police ofcers near the village of Bani Jamra. We strongly condemn this attack on police and extend our deepest sympathies to all those injured. All violence is completely unacceptable and unhelpful in efforts to rebuild trust and pursue meaningful reconciliation in Bahrain. Read More

Statement by Ambassador Krajeski on Violence in Bahrain

We are deeply concerned about acts of violence in Bahrain. Bahraini ofcials have conrmed reports of a blast on the evening of May 29th that injured seven police ofcers, with at least one ofcer suffering critical